Chaos: More Enjoyable when Shared with a Loved One
by 9hrs23min
Summary: Jareth is bored as usual. The goblin antics are getting old and something  or someone  is missing. Meanwhile, Sarah has graduated from High School and has a whole summer ahead of her.   Note: this is my first ff so please bear with me, it will get better.
1. Chapter 1

In the midst of the general commotion and ruckus that must be present around goblins, Jareth sat in his throne, gazing into a crystal ball, although not seeing anything particularly interesting. Spending weeks on end in his owl form had put a great strain on him. He was tired and more irritable than ever. Yet he wondered why he even bothered, for Sarah still believed him to be the villain, when she was the one who had been so cruel. He had offered everything to her; the world, her dreams, his heart. His love meant nothing to her. However, he could not bear to let her slip away. He feared that as time wore on, she would forget about him.

The room filled with the deafening laughter of the goblins. One of them had caught a chicken, and began a game of hot potato with the poor thing. Between the shrieks of delight from the goblins and the squawking of the chicken, Jareth could handle it no longer. He stood up and pushed the closest goblin over with his riding crop.

"Shut up!" he demanded.

One by one, the goblins became silent. The chicken was set free, and strutted along like nothing ever happened. A goblin towards the back of the room noticed Jareth's crazed expression and began to giggle. They all turned to face the giggling goblin, and then looked back at Jareth. They tried to hold it in, but they all became an annoying, giggling pack.

"Get out," he said, quietly at first. He strode towards the door and pulled it open.

"GET OUT!" he yelled.

All the goblins scrambled towards the door. They knew that he meant it, and no one wanted to be around when he was angry. Jareth slammed the door and locked it. He sunk back into his throne. He wondered what he was going to do. He couldn't go on like this much longer. Without Sarah, he would surely fall to ruins and the Labyrinth would be left without a king.

He sighed. Now he was the one being melodramatic. He was just going to have to wait it out. At some point, Sarah would seek him out. At least, that's what he kept telling himself. He also figured that if she didn't, he might just have to go and find her.

It was rather peaceful without various goblin sounds echoing around the room. Jareth made a mental note to kick them out more often. (He also made a mental note that he does kick them out quite frequently, mostly through the window, but for whatever reason it had never occurred to him to make them all leave at once. Through the door. Without any physical kicking.)

Apparently, Jareth had fallen asleep in his throne. He made this conclusion when he heard whispers and muffled giggles that sounded much to close. He opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by goblins.

"You're majesty didn't tell us there would be a sleepover in the throne room!" said one of the smaller goblins.

Jareth looked around, only to see that the entire room was draped in sheets, blankets, and pillows, with an occasional fort constructed. He set his foot on the ground, which made an unexpected crunching sound. Popcorn.

He sighed, and looked at the mess that he would most likely have to clean up himself, for goblins were quite one-way with these sorts of things. They could do the damage, but one was lucky if they cleaned it up without making things worse.

"Yes," he said sarcastically. "When someone locks their door after they yell at everyone to leave, it almost always means 'do come back soon, sleep in my house without permission, and leave a mess.'"

The goblins stared at him blankly. Jareth stood up slowly, fearful of whatever else he might step in. Luckily, the goblins became distracted by a chicken that appeared to be trapped in a pillow fort, and he was able to slip away, carefully maneuvering around still sleeping goblins and a puddle of something sticky.

He entered his bedchamber and collapsed onto his magnificent four poster bed. He covered his face with a pillow and tried to relax. It didn't last long. Before he could even think about falling back asleep, a loud boom followed by the sound of crumbling stone resonated through the entire castle. He pretended not to hear it, but after a minute or so, he decided that a moment of peace and (semi) quiet was not worth losing whatever part of his castle had been (quite possibly) blown up. He reluctantly sat up and dragged himself back into the throne room, where a gaping hole now replaced where the middle of the back wall once stood. Chicken feathers floated through the air, and smoke was rising off a goblin that was lying on the floor, laughing hysterically.

Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose. "Would anyone care to inform me why there is now a fairly large, fairly crumbling hole in the wall that was not there five minutes ago?"

They all began to talk at once, which led to arguments about what had really happened.

"One at a time!" he commanded. "Unless you are all in the mood for a trip to the bog."

Silence.

"You," he said, poking the closest goblin with the toe of his boot. "Talk."

"Well," began the goblin. "Geoffrey and I were…"

Jareth interrupted. "I don't know of anyone named Geoffrey." _Odd name for a goblin, _he thought.

"Oh yeah, we used to calls him Flunk, but now we calls him Geoffrey. Anyways, we was trying to see who could hold their breath the longest, and we was both getting pretty dizzy, and…do you remember that time when…"

"Get on with it!" said Jareth. He was becoming impatient.

"I figured it was just a case of spontaneous combustion. He lived though. Can't say so much for the chicken, poor thing."

They both looked to see a slightly singed goblin nibbling on what appeared to be a roasted chicken dinner.

Jareth sighed. "I'm not sure if I should trust you with this," he announced to the hoard of goblins. "If you can put this room back in order in less than an hour, I will single-handedly send all of you to The Bog of Eternal Stench before you can blink!"

The goblins stared at him blankly, and the informative one stood with his mouth agape.

Jareth was too used to making threats that it took him a moment to realize what he had said.

"If you can put this room back in order in less than an hour, I will…" he turned back to the informative goblin. "You,"

"Me name's Grimes."

"Alright, Grimes, what do you like to do for fun?" Jareth had to admit that he was apprehensive of what might come out of his mouth.

"Well, I likes to…likes to…burn things?"

"No."

"Then my second choice has to be…to be…have you ever played this game where you take a chicken, three apples, an old sock, and you?…"

"Never mind," said Jareth. "If you can put this room back in order in less than an hour, you may all take turns jumping out the window and into the pond." It was a win-win deal. The goblins got to do what they had been nagging for the past who know how long, and Jareth got to watch them jump into nearly freezing water and then see their faces when they realized that _jumping_ out the window wasn't any more extravagant than being _kicked_ out the window.

The goblins considered the reward for a moment. They concluded that it was a reasonable swap, and presently scurried around looking for something to clean.

Jareth sat in his throne and swung his legs over the armrest. He closely observed the construction work of the goblins, ready to step in if anything went amiss. Two had returned carrying a bucket of the sticky stuff that had been spilled in a puddle on the floor earlier, and that was probably still there. They began filling the hole with it, which worked remarkably well, although it turned a garish orange when it dried. Meanwhile, the rest of the goblins gathered up the pillows and blankets and threw them into the pit in the center of the room. One of them went around eating up bits of popcorn off the floor, and another got to work licking away said sticky stuff.

Jareth was admittedly impressed with their work. They finished in record time. As he had expected, it was simply hilarious watching the goblins jump out the window, and then see the priceless expression on their face as they slopped back into the room, dripping wet and shivering. Yet he kept thinking of how this chaotic and outlandish lifestyle would be much more bearable and amusing if he had someone to share it with. It seemed such a shame to keep it all to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer-** I do not own the rights to Labyrinth, but I do have a snazzy Jareth t-shirt and a pair of gray skinny jeans I lovingly call my "Jareth Pants"

And so the years passed. Nothing particularly notable had happened, although if one looked into the goblin's journal of "Events not to Recreate, Think About, or Speak Of" they might find that one time the cook had mixed up the spices in Jareth's favorite dessert. Now, this would normally be punishable by a trip to the bog, but it just so happened that this spice was known among the goblin city to make one's hair fall out in clumps. Luckily, a group of hungry goblins had gotten to this dessert before Jareth, but just at the thought that he could have _possibly_ eaten it, and that it was _intended_ for him, the cook had mysteriously vanished, and the goblins wondered if this had been the first case of certain death in the history of the Labyrinth.

Then there was the day that the goblins discovered scissors, and then steak knives, and then spoons. The last two didn't cause as much damage as the scissors, which forced Jareth to invest in a heavy duty lock for his closet door; for the goblins seemed to believe that his clothing suited him better with holes in it.

Today, Jareth sat in his throne with a rather bored expression. He tapped his riding crop on the armrest in a rhythmic fashion. He conjured up a crystal and looked inside. He hadn't checked in on Sarah in quite some time.

She was sitting in a room with many other people, hunched over a desk and staring at a piece of paper. A small machine was on the desk next to the paper. She kept pressing buttons on it and then writing on the paper, which was followed by a furious scrubbing away at the writing with a pink square until it was gone. Jareth turned the crystal to the side to get a better view of the paper. On it was a question, and he read it aloud to the goblins:

"Susie wants to decorate a hat to wear to a party. She has 11 possible color choices for the hat and 34 different decorations. If she decides to make two hats with 7 decorations on one and 19 decorations on the other, how many combinations can she make?"

_What the devil kind of question is that? _he thought. "Well, go on then!" he said to the goblins. "Answer!"

They talked amongst themselves, and Jareth looked back into the crystal. Sarah had written "147" in large numbers beneath the question.

"Never mind, chaps, the answer is 147."

Jareth concluded that this was a ridiculous question with an equally ridiculous answer. With a wave of his hand, he watched as the writing on the paper faded out and disappeared. Sarah stopped halfway through picking up the pink square. She looked at the paper for a moment with a puzzled expression on her face. She looked around the room; feeling like someone was watching her. Then, she looked up at the ceiling. It looked as if she was looking straight through the crystal at Jareth. She bit her lip to hide a smile and looked back at her paper, shaking her head.

He was intrigued by the small smile that Sarah had tried to hide. She had to have known that it was him tampering with her work, who else would it be? At that moment, he decided that he just might have to pay a visit to the Aboveground that evening.

Sarah opened her front door and flung her bag to the side.

_ Freedom._

Today was her last day of school for the summer. No, scratch that. It was her last day of school _forever._ Until college, that is. But even then, she would be staying close to home to get her core classes out of the way.

She headed up the stairs and into her bedroom. It was stuffy in the warm summer air, even with the window wide open. She flopped onto her bed and sighed. This was precisely what she was planning on doing all summer. Nothing, or perhaps a few trips to the park in costume for old time's sake. Presently, she was trying to avoid fairytales and fantasies to spare the odd looks from her stepmother. Even though she was a high school graduate, she found that she still loved magical tales every bit as she had five, even ten years ago.

And then there was today. Her algebra teacher had insisted on giving everyone a packet of work to do in class. It was no wonder why everyone hated him. Sarah, who couldn't stand giving up, had stared at the same problem for nearly half the class. Just as she was about to do what she considered forbidden, the question convenientlydisappeared. Shehad her suspicions.

_Why would he wait stay out of your life for so long, and then suddenly reappear to solve your little hat dilemma?_ a voice in the back of her mind wondered.

_Does it matter?_ she said back.

_You've been thinking about him lately. _the voice accused_. You know he didn't actually do anything wrong. He did only what you asked of him._

_ Who are we talking about?_

_ A certain Goblin King by the name of Jareth. _

_ Doesn't ring a bell. _

_ Just yesterday you threatened to send Merlin to the Bog of Eternal Stench if he didn't stop barking at the squirrel in the yard. _

_ What does that have to do with anything?_

The voice laughed.

Sarah then declared herself insane. She would have to rethink her summer plans. One does a lot of thinking when they are sitting around doing nothing. She vowed to keep herself so busy that the voice wouldn't have a chance to say anything.

The voice poked her in the brain. _You miss him._

She promptly sat up and went downstairs to get a snack. Perhaps she was delusional with hunger.

Jareth sat in the window of his bedchamber that looked out over the Labyrinth. He was trying to plan how he ought to meet up with Sarah this time, and he was having a difficulties. It was not because he was nervous, nor that he hadn't any interesting ideas. He was quite eager, and had enough ideas to write a large book. He was distracted by a trio of goblins outside the window that were trying to sing the alphabet. They were failing miserably, and the result had Jareth deciding to stand outside of Sarah's window and recite his ABC's until he realized what he had just been thinking.

"Will you three shut up!" he shouted down to them.

They quieted themselves and looked up. "Oh, your majesty, is that you all the way up there?" questioned the slightly singed one, whom Jareth assumed to be this "Geoffrey" that survived spontaneous combustion. How he remembered this after several years, he had no idea.

"No, it's your great great grandmother twice removed returned from the dead!" he shouted back sarcastically. "Of course it's me, who the hell else? I suggest you remove yourself from my line of vision and hearing unless you are itching to take a holiday in an oubliette."

"Yes, sire!" all three yelled and made a break for it, crashing straight through a hedge.

Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back in the window frame. He sighed, and quickly decided to go casual before he could change his mind. Extravagant didn't turn out so well the last time, even though the purpose of the visit was to look and act menacing whilst stealing a baby.

_No glitter? _he thought.

_No glitter._ he confirmed.

_Cape?_

"No cape!" he said out loud.

That night, Sarah laid on top of her covers, wearing her shirt with the unicorn on it and a pair of short, pink pajama shorts. The box fan in her window made a constant droning but soothing noise, but it didn't help much with the sticky heat. She could have sworn she heard the sound of someone pacing on the roof. She blamed it on the fan. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard a loud crash that sounded no more than several feet away. The fan sputtered out, and someone with a rather familiar

voice muttered "Damn it." She sat up to see him bent over trying to untangle the fan cord from around his booted foot.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed.

_Yes! _called out her contradictory thoughts.

He looked up, and finally freed himself using magic. He looked at her confused yet amused expression. At least she wasn't angry.

"Has Susie solved her hat situation?" he asked, trying to sound mundane.

"Wha…oh, I don't know." Sarah spat out. "Why the hell are you in my room?"

Jareth walked over to examine the music box with the dancer in the white gown. He picked it up and wound the key. A familiar tune began to play. "No reason."

"If you have no reason to be here, you might as well leave," she said, but it sounded more teasing than she had intended.

Jareth smirked. He moved to sit on the edge of her bed.

"No," Sarah said sternly, and pointed to an old rocking chair in the corner of the room.

He glanced at her face, unable to read her expression. He sat in the chair and crossed his legs.

"Today, my goblins sang the alphabet right outside my window. Yesterday, I found a tooth, four hairpins, and a chicken feather in my bread pudding. Last year, I was almost poisoned with a substance that would have made my hair fall out. I have had a hole blown in my throne room wall, and I have woken up with goblins staring at me more times than I can count."

"Am I supposed to feel bad for you?" questioned Sarah. She thought for a moment. "Why do you have hairpins in your castle?" She looked at his hair.

"They aid in picking locks" he answered matter-of-factly.

"Couldn't you use magic?"

Jareth didn't answer.

Sarah tilted her head to the side. "Are you going to tell me why you are here or not?"

Jareth folded his arms and looked straight at Sarah. She could feel his gaze.

"Boredom, lack of sanity, I needed a break if only for ten minutes, take your pick"

"Well, why me? There are far more interesting places." she said, although the thought made her disappointed.

"Why not you?" he replied.

Despite the heat, Sarah pulled a blanket over her legs. "Surely it can't be that bad. The goblins are so small, and…"

Jareth interrupted. "The smaller the creature, the more idiotic and difficult it is."

"But you're the goblin king! Can't you control them?"

"Can you control your dog, what's-his-name, Merlin?"

"To a degree."

Jareth laughed.

Sarah looked at the floor. "Well, only when he lets me, I guess," she said quietly, slightly embarrassed.

"It's the same concept, only the goblins are less cute and smellier than a dog."

"What about the bog?" If she were a goblin, she would make sure to behave to avoid the place.

"The bog can only hold so many. By deciding which ones to send away, you've given yourself an aneurism and its back to square one."

"Hmm." mumbled Sarah.

Sarah's miniature grandfather clock chimed 12:30. Jareth stood up and sighed. "I thank you for the intelligent conversation, but I best be going. You need your rest."

"Actually, I'm off all summer, I can stay up as late as I want." _Crap, that sounded childish._

"We can't have you looking tired. It wouldn't suit you."

With that, he stepped out the window and was gone.

"You didn't put the fan back in!" she yelled. She was extremely lucky that her father, stepmother, and Toby were sound sleepers.

Sarah lay back down with a smile on her face.

**Note-** I'm fairly certain that was better than the first chapter. What say you?


End file.
